Bike carriers are typically utilized for storing or transporting bicycles or other cargo items. The bike carriers may be mounted to a vehicle. These vehicle mounted carriers may be positioned at any appropriate location on the vehicle, such as either on the roof of a vehicle or on the rear portion of a vehicle. Often such racks are mounted at the rear of the vehicle where the rack may cause minimum distraction and not obstruct a driver's view. Many vehicles, however, have tailgates that lower and back windows that raise, such as in station wagons, pick-up trucks and many sport utility vehicles, whereby mounting bike racks on the rear of the vehicle becomes inconvenient.
One large class of bike racks includes those racks that may be mounted on the roof of a vehicle. The roof carrier has the advantage of non-obstructed rear vision. However, it has not been widely accepted by the public because of its large size, unsightly appearance and high lift height for loading bicycles. In addition, while this solution may minimize space requirements, as most vehicles roofs are often not utilized for other purposes, loading and unloading the bicycles from a roof rack can be a difficult chore.
Moreover, bicycles that are transported on the vehicle roof may significantly add to the air drag of the vehicle and may therefore reduce gas mileage. In addition, roof mounted racks may be inconvenient since the bicycle rack connections may be located high up on the vehicle, whereby they are difficult to reach. At the very least, the rider is required to lift the bicycle above his head. Even reaching, let alone operating, attachment devices may be difficult at best, and the vehicle's paint job may be damaged.
Another large class of bike racks are those that may be mounted on the vehicle's rear bumper. While these racks are much easier to load and unload, the racks have serious weight restrictions due to the weight limitations of the bumper. The bumper is simply not designed to be a weight bearing fixture. Moreover, these racks tend to have a lack of stability, due in part to the desire to reduce the load on the bumper. The problems multiply if the user increases the number of bikes to be carried.
To engage the bumper, the bicycle carriers may require clamps or brackets that may engage with the upper and lower edges of the vehicle bumper in order to retain the carrier on the bumper. In addition, bumper mounted carriers, if not properly designed or installed, may scratch the bumper surface.
Other types of rear mounted carriers may require the use of straps or complicated assemblies for securing bicycles to the carriers that may be difficult to adjust. The use of the retaining ropes and straps has caused the reliability of the bicycle mountings to depend on some extent on the skill and care of the user.
Another class of bike racks are those that include a rack mounted on a trailer hitch receiver of the vehicle. A common configuration for such hitch receivers is a rectangular receptacle intended for a balled assembly to be inserted and fixed therein. It is upon this balled assembly that a trailer may be hitched. When such a balled assembly is not needed, it may be removed in many designs. When removed, the rectangular receiver is vacant and often covered with a removable cap.
Bicycle racks that may be detachably secured to a conventional trailer hitch mounted on a passenger vehicle may typically employ a rectangular base tube that is received in the trailer hitch square tube hitch receiver mounted on a passenger vehicle. Since the trailer hitch receiver is designed to support large weights, a much more substantial bike rack may be employed.
Traditionally, these bike racks may have static positions that may limit the locations where a bike can be supported by the rack. These limited locations may result in the bike being supported in less than an ideal location or manner. Additionally, it can be difficult to lock the bike(s) to the bike rack with a locking mechanism in order to inhibit theft of the bikes.
Moreover, typical bike racks may utilize two fixed wings or posts. These fixed posts may extend upwardly at an angle relative to one another from a hitch insert. Since the posts are fixed, the angles are also fixed and cannot be changed. Various clamping devices have also been used in the prior art to attempt to secure the crossbar of the bicycles to the bike rack. Such clamping devices have various drawbacks. Some may lack the necessary structural integrity to securely hold bicycles onto the carrier while being transported by the vehicle.